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All posts by The Beetle
Travel Quiz: Peru
The winner of last month's Trailblazer Guidebook on Tibet is: Gavin Fernandez congratulations, Gavin!
This month, win a Rough Guide guidebook on Peru. See http://www.roughguides.com for travel info.
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research: try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.
Funny Signs by Mac
Mac is not responsible for finding these signs, he saw them on the internet and thought they may be amusing for readers of the Globetrotters e-newsletter. Please, no complaints about being patronising, this is just for fun.
Spotted in a toilet of a London office: TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW
In a Laundromat: AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT
In a London department store: BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS
In an office: WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY, PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN
In an office: AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD
Outside a second hand shop: WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING – BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?
… and the best one…Notice in health food shop window: CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS
Spotted in a safari park: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR
Seen during a conference: FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR
Notice in a field: THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES
Message on a leaflet: IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS
… and finally…
On a repair shop door: WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)
Volunteer Spotlight Youth Services with Iko Poran, Brazil
Iko Poran society is a Brazilian association of private non-profit , non-political, non-denominational organizations guided by the principles of democracy. The mission of our organization is to promote volunteer programs that have a positive impact on their communities and surrounding and promote a beneficial exchange between cultures. Volunteer work varies according to project. For more information see our website at http://www.ikoporan.org/ or email rj@ikoporan.org
Youth Services with TIPACOM, Peru
TIPACOM a program that helps babies, children and teenagers living in extreme poverty, mainly in Villa El Salvador as well as other pueblos jovenes in Lima. TIPACOM has developed many projects including training programs for young people. The organization also works to promote health awareness and aid the sick. Volunteers can work in any of these areas and are encouraged to organize other social project in pueblos jovenes. Those with background in Administration are needed as are English teachers. For more info, email tipacom@hotmail.com
Mac's Travel Tips
We are sorry to say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing strong and recently sent the Beetle a collection of Mac reminiscences about some of his travels in 1992. Here we have thoughts and experiences on Malaysia, India, Komodo Dragons and Singapore.
Kula Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian children are singing in the church across the street from my four star, oops, excuse me, I mean four dollar hotel. It is sweltering hot and they are singing: “Dashing through the snow in a one horse open shay.”
When I stepped outside my Hotel Shelly in Bombay one night (it is along the water front) I heard on a microphone “Humpty Dumpty. Number eight.” They were playing Bingo and calling number in English manner, I guess, outside the pier of a membership recreation club. An Indian gentleman came up to me in a chilled beer bar and complained to me that his son worked for American Express and they were taking advantage of him and having him work more than eight hours a day. I told him I would speak to them about that. Ha! I later saw Indians picketing American Express for unfair labour practices. The other side of the coin is, according to the Americans that the Indians do not work as hard as the Americans and that they are used to goofing off in Indian firms and expect to do the same in American firms. I am trying to stay neutral. I can’t solve all the worlds problems!
25 Nov 1991, Singapore: a cable car with wonderful views of Singapore takes you to Sentosa Island. The wax museum (I like wax museums, I learn my history there) shows the founding of Singapore and about the War years and is well worth the $1.80 US it costs. It is called Pioneers of Singapore/Surrender Chambers. It always intrigues me, the foreigners living in Singapore were dancing the night away in formal clothes at the Raffles Hotel and then in a few hours, they were prisoners of the Japanese. They had not expected the Japanese to attack down the Malaysian peninsula but rather from the sea and certainly not that fast if they did.
I just found out that if in Malaysia I had told them I was a Senior citizen I could have travelled at half price on the train. The Singapore Senior Citizen rate at their zoo, however, is for Singaporeans only. I tried to look Singaporean, but strangely, it didn’t work. They charge $7 U.S. I am used to zoos being free but it is a good zoo.
Komodo dragons: the largest is about the size of a crocodile and can eat a horse. They thought they were extinct and then they found some on an Indonesian island, Komodo, hence their name. Left over from past ages. I also saw Meerkats which are like mongooses and they all got to see me.
Sign in subway in Singapore: No Durians allowed. Durian is a fruit that is delicious tasting but has a terrible smell to it. Many hotels and places will not allow you to bring in Durian (they smell like farts) or as a British Colonial descried Durian “Like eating a garlic custard while standing over a London sewer.” I gave some stuff to Catholic Church in Kula Lumpur and the priest and his students took me out to eat Durian. One girl said her grandmother was addicted to it. Announcements on subway in Singapore (and they have a beautiful one) were in four different languages (all saying No Durian I guess).
An Iranian seaman sat next to me on bus from Singapore to Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. He was eating almonds he had brought from Iran. He said he had been in twenty countries, but not the United States, as they would not let him in. He said that the Revolution was bad, everyone is unemployed. There had been so many Iranians at Ueno train station in Tokyo, Japan, each morning when I was there. They would congregate there hoping to get a day job from Japanese looking for cheap labour for the day. It was odd. I am American and they were Iranians, but they approached me to go site seeing with as if we were old friends. He was a marine engineer (the guy on the bus). Oddly enough, I met a marine engineer (three different ones) on three different tour buses in different places. You think of seamen spending their time in bars but all three I met were avid sightseers.
While waiting for a bus in Singapore, I met an American school teacher that joined an International Pen Pal Club just to have contacts while travelling. He was amazed to find the pen pal he had in Indonesia lived in a beautiful eight room house that had a waterfall in the house. At pen pal places he says he usually pays a nominal amount as he stays for long periods. He paid $85 a month at one place on East Coast of Malaysia. It was a place he had fallen in love with. Name is something like Khoutan. One of the pen pals he visited was in Brunei. He had never heard of it before (not all school teachers are smart!) It is oil rich. He says that some wealthy Brunei will charter a whole public bus just for himself and the people that were going to take that public bus are just out of luck with no advance notice. Today I guess it would be internet pals.
If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com
Country Statistics
| Rank | Country Name |
Internet Users as % of Total Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 53.23% |
| 2 | Norway | 52.40% |
| 3 | Iceland | 51.82% |
| 4 | Sweden | 50.70% |
| 5 | Finland | 43.86% |
| 6 | Denmark | 42.97% |
| 7 | Netherlands | 42.55% |
| 8 | Canada | 42.03% |
| 9 | Singapore | 40.46% |
| 10 | Australia | 40.14% |
Source:
Our Friends Ryanair
Director of Ryanair.com Conal Henry announced proudly: ‘Ryanair is the ONLY airline that provides access to all European Grand Prix destinations – all other airlines are the pits!!’ According to them, the best access to Hungarian GP near Budapest on August 15th is via… Graz, Austria, the distance to Hungary JUST 364 km.
What is going on! The passenger traffic statistics for March 2004 confirm Ryanair has carried 204,187 more passengers in UK/Europe than British Airways.
Ryanair on 7 April 2004 released its customer service statistics for March 2004. Ryanair is committed to publishing customer service statistics each month and these confirm that Ryanair is also No.1 for Customer Service.
- 93% of all Ryanair's 15,798 flights during the month of March arrived on time.
- Complaints registered at less than 1 (0.49) complaint per 1000 passengers.
- Mislaid baggage registered at less than 1 (0.64) bag per 1000 passengers.
Just in case you a regular visitor to Brest, in France, Ryanair has decided to discontinue the Brest-London (Stansted) route.
Answers to the Flags Quiz
Answers to the Flags Quiz
 Burma |
 Canada |
 Denmark |
 Gibraltar |
 Japan |
Increase in Membership Fees in the EU
For a while now postage costs to the EU countries have been rising and has now reached the point where they are on a par with the costs for our other members worldwide members (USA, South America and Australia). We feel that it is unfair for one member to subsidise another and have decided to abolish the EU price band.
The new fees will be effective from the 1st June 2004 when the following fees will apply:
- 1 year subscription £18.00 (around €27)
- 2 year subscription £34.00 (around €51)
- 3 year subscription £48.00 (around €72)
If you would like to renew or extend your membership or have been thinking of becoming a member then join or renew before the 1st June, to get the current rate.
Being Careful: Bulgaria
From the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office: You should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks by terrorists in public places, including tourist sights, throughout the world. Although there is no recent history of either domestic or international terrorism in Bulgaria, we believe there is an increased general threat to visibly British institutions and organisations from global terrorism as there is in all other countries in this region.
Crime levels are roughly comparable to the UK. Organised criminal groups are active in casinos, nightclubs, prostitution and elsewhere. Much local violent crime is the result of turf battles between criminal groups. You should beware of groups of young pickpockets (often children) in city centres, especially busy shopping areas and underpasses. Thieves and pickpockets also target holidaymakers at Black Sea coastal resorts. You should leave passports and other valuables in a hotel safe or other secure place. (You are strongly advised, however, to carry a copy of the information pages of your passport as proof of identity).
Car theft is commonplace. Thieves target prestige and four-wheel drive models, but any unattended vehicle is at risk. If possible, you should use alarms and other visible security measures.
BBC Disease Map
Spotted by our webmaster, this is a really neat idea. The BBC have put together a ‘Disease map’ that lets you click on your intended destination region and then shows you a brief overview of the diseases that are present in some or all of the countries there, and the vaccinations that may be required.
This is for advisory purposes only; many countries in the same region have widely differing immunisation entry requirements – it is best to consult your travel agent or GP well before departure to ensure that you fulfil these.